The first prosecution for human trafficking offences in Devon and Cornwall has seen four women jailed for more than 20 years.

The Czech nationals were involved in one of the largest ever conspiracies to pervert the course of justice and derail a human slavery prosecution.

The court case heard how the group tried to force a key prosecution witness to lie and retract his sworn statements.

The estimated cost to taxpayers for the collapsed trials were in excess of £1m.

The court heard how the conspiracy was described as “one of the most involved and expensive” to have come to court and prosecutors admitted they had difficulties finding a comparable case in British legal history.

All four women have pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. In addition, Tancosova Senior – described by police investigator as the ‘Matriarch of the Tancos Organised Crime Group’ – pleaded guilty to an additional charge of perverting the course of justice which resulted in a human trafficking case against another of her daughters being withdrawn. She admitted threatening a potential prosecution witness into retracting his evidence which he’d given police between October 2014 and March 15, reports the Plymouth Herald.

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Tancosova Junior also faces an additional charge of perverting the course of justice after she tried to convince a jury mid-trial that new evidence would be forthcoming which would clear her name – while it was still being concocted by other members of the organised crime family based in the Czech Republic.

Mr Mathers-Lee told the court that the initial police investigation, codenamed Operation Triage, uncovered a human trafficking and modern slavery operation eventually saw five convicted and jailed for a total of more than 20 years. They were all members of the same family of Czech Roma origin. One of the five included 37-year-old Ruzena Tancosova (Junior) who was jailed for six and a half years in November last year following a second trial which lasted eight weeks. Her brother Petr Tancos, their cousin Martin Tancos and their partners Nela Dzurkova and Katerina Kurlova were all convicted of human trafficking offences.

Tancosova (Junior) appeared in court during the latest conspiracy sentencing via video link with HMP Peterborough, her newborn baby beside her in a pram.

Her mother, also called Ruzena Tancosova, aged 56, her sister 35-year-old Lenka Cmejlova and 42-year-old Libuse Sindelarova sat beside each other in the dock, listening intently to proceedings via an interpreter. All three pleaded guilty to the charges

The vulnerable victims were trafficked from the Czech Republic, housed in poor conditions while pocketing most of their wages and benefits. They victims – who were vulnerable for a variety of reasons including psychiatric issues, homeless, drug addicts and criminal records – were treated as cash cows and put to work at car washes and a meat packing factory, or forced to become domestic slaves at the Plymouth homes of crime gang members.

However, when two of them fled their captors and contacted police, the crime gang operating in both Plymouth and the Czech Republic began to concoct plans to see those arrested avoid British justice.

Mr Mathers-Lee said the first trial effectively collapsed due to problems relating to interpreting matters. The second trial began and had progressed but during a long adjournment the court judge received a letter from “pivotal witness” Josef Bukovinsky unexpectedly retracting is statement.

His letter, supposedly witnessed by Sindelarova and drafted by a solicitor in the Czech Republic, claimed he made his original statements “under the influence of psychotropic substances, such as Pervitin and other substances which had such an impact on my mind that I was unable to concentrate and make a statement based on the truth”.

The letter went on to alleged corrupt practices by the investigating officers and even the interpreter.

The letter claimed Devon and Cornwall Police detectives had “subjected me to undue influence in respect to my statements” suggesting officers had “asked me captious and leading questions”. He said the interpreter, who was “allocated to me by the authorities in Great Britain, also directed me towards such a statement in the same manner”.

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Due to irregularities in the letter, the then trial judge, Judge Paul Darlow, ordered investigators to determine the veracity of the letter and trace Mr Bukovinsky.

A Devon and Cornwall police officer travelled to the Czech Republic in June 2015 but could not find him. However, they traced the solicitor Josef Klofac and witness Sindelarova. Czech Police in Prague confirmed Mr Bukovinsky was wanted having failed to hand himself into prison to being sentence for robbery.

Officers found Mr Bukovinsky’s sister in his home town and she revealed she had not seen or heard from him since June 4, 2015 – a significant date in the investigation.

Sindelarova was traced on the outskirts of the town Novy Bor – where a number of the Tancos crime family lived. She was living at the same address as a man called Miroslav Tancos – described as the father of Martin Tancos [jailed as part of the Operation Triage human slavery case] and uncle of Ruzena Tancosova (Junior) and Petr Tancos [also jailed as part of Operation Triage].

(Image: John Allen)

She concocted a false story, claiming she had met Mr Bukovinsky in a supermarket whereupon he claimed he was unable to live with himself for lying in court about Tancosova (Junior) and Petr Tancos. She claimed he asked for her help and between June 7, 2015 and June 11, 2015 she sought a solicitor, called him and arranged the meeting, the payment for the fees, the concocted letter and it being mailed to Plymouth Crown Court.

She claimed that on June 11 Josef was called by a friend and offered a job and a place to say. After dropping him at Prague railway station, she never saw him again.

On August 12 Josef Bukovinsky was found in a Czech prison and on September 8, 2015, Devon and Cornwall Police officers interviewed him.

He revealed that he had initially moved in with his mother but after losing his job and a falling out, became homeless. He said he was approached by the Tancos family “in a car and they asked me whether I would not want to rectify what I have f****** up in court.” He revealed one of the people in the car was Ruzena Tancosova Senior.

He said he was afraid of them and after agreeing was driven to a property supposedly the home address of Lenka Cmejlova in Novy Bor, although it was also occupied by several other people including Lenka’s partner Jiri Sebelik, their children, Petr Tancos’s son and another man.

(Image: Devon & Cornwall Police)

Mr Bukovinsky said they continued through the night telling him to change his statement.

He said: “They put so much pressure on me that I wrote it. I just wanted some peace. They talked to me throughout the night to the following morning. I finally wanted to have some peace and quiet. It was mainly Lenka, we were sitting in the kitchen. She told me to change everything, literally everything.”

The family arranged for him to be accompanied by Libuse Sindelarova when he went to the solicitors. The fee of around KC3,000 Czech Crowns - around £90 - was paid to the solicitor and Mr Bukovinsky said it was made up of KC2,000 from Lenka and another KC1,000 from Ruzena Tancosova Senior. After changing his statement he was effectively kept at the property for the next three months. He said he was told not to go out by Cmejlova and Ruzena Senior. He added that he was told by female members of the family that if he was caught by police and any of their family were sent to prison, when they were released they would take revenge on him and his family.

(Image: Devon & Cornwall Police)

He told police: “I worked for them. They forced me to change my statement and told me what to write. I did not want it to be like this.

“Jiri Sebelik came to me and told me that if I confirmed that my first statement was true, they were scared that it would come out that they had held me and that they would hold me again because their people were everywhere.”

Mr Bukovinsky eventually fled the house and on August 28, 2015 wrote to his sister which police later seized. In the letter he explained he had been held by the Tancos family for three months, that he had been forced to change his statement and that they had known that “the English police is coming to see me next week… I’m scared again about what’s going to happen… because they have been threatening me”.

Mr Mathers-Lee revealed that while he was in prison Mr Bukovinsky received two postcards from Ruzena Tancosova Senior, which appeared to be an attempt to check he was in prison and to entice him to write back to her. He added that the message they wanted to convey was they knew where he was and their reach was long.

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He added that one of the counts against Tancosova Senior covered the pressure of victim Josef Janoska who was to be a witness at the first trial against her daughter Sandra Tancosova.

He said: “Without him, there was very limited evidence… he was case critical to the defendant.”

When the first trial began he could not be located and as a result no evidence as offered against Sandra Tancosova. Police later traced Josef Janoska and he revealed he had been approach “six or seven times” by Tancosova Senior when he had returned to the Czech Republic.

He revealed that at their third meeting she had been able to tell him exactly what evidence he had given in court, showing she was being kept fully informed by people in Plymouth.

In fear for his safety he agreed to her demands, saying that in the area he lived, there were many gypsies related to the Tancos family.

As a result, Sandra Tancosova returned to the Czech Republic and Mr Mathers-Lee told the court she “evaded justice on that indictment”.

He noted that on the second trial, on June 3, 2015 – just a day before Mr Bukovinsky, having been picked up by members of the Tancos family, attended the solicitors to begin changing his statement – Ruzena Tancosova Junior gave evidence at Plymouth Crown Court where she told the prosecutor “I will have other evidence with which I can prove that I’m not lying. I’m just waiting for finishing this evidence, giving evidence and when I can talk to my barrister. But I’m not lying, not lying and I have evidence”.

The letter was dated June 5 and received at court ten days later.

Mr Mathers-Lees also revealed how Mr Bukovinsky was forced to set up a Facebook account which was taken over by the family and his ‘retraction’ was also posted on a public page for Tancosova Junior – appearing in Plymouth Crown Court – to see.

The court also heard how Ruzena Senior had previous convictions in the Czech Republic for violence, forgery and two counts of fraud – described as ‘swindling’. She had contested her extradition and was held for 71 days before being brought over to the UK for her court appearances.

In mitigation her advocate said her motivation was primarily to protect her children and that she “genuinely believed” Mr Bukovinsky was lying.

Ruzena Junior had Czech convictions for embezzlement, credit card fraud and three further convictions for fraud. As Ruzena Junior sat cradling her young child on the video link, her advocate claimed she did not carry out a “very sophisticated” process. Despite Judge Lawrie saying there was “compelling evidence” that she was the prime mover of the conspiracy, her advocate insisted she was not the driving force and that her mother was primarily responsible.

Cmejlova had no convictions in the Czech Republic but one caution in the UK for shoplifting. Her advocate claimed the 35-year-old did not fully appreciate the seriousness of the offence she was committing.

Sindelarova had not convictions in the UK but she had two in the Czech Republic for child cruelty and a domestic burglary. She contested her extradition and had been held for 57 days prior to being flown to the UK. Her advocate told the court she had not fully explained to him why she had taken part, not being linked in any way to the family. He said she had a 21-year-old daughter and missed her home “terribly”, adding that she was “truly sorry that she is in this predicament”.

Following a long deliberation, Judge Ian Lawrie QC highlighted the facts of the case, highlighting how he had sat through the final trial which saw a number of people – including Ruzena Junior – jailed for conspiring to traffic emotionally and psychologically vulnerable men into the country for the purpose of exploitation. He noted how she played a central role in that offence and did again with the latest charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

He noted how she lived on the proceeds of their exploited labour “without hesitation or restraint”.

He claimed Ruzena Senior’s actions in convincing one witness not to give evidence resulted in the case against another of her daughter’s being dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service at the first trial. The success of her efforts emboldened other family members to try the same approach on the “pivotal witness” Mr Bukovinsky on the second trial.

(Image: John Allen)

He said all four in court “worked as a team” holding him capture for a number of months, adding: “You effectively broke the will of Mr Bukovinsky to withstand that pressure”.

Noting the publication of a retraction on a faked Facebook page, he said it showed “planning, preparation and a ruthless application”, before describing Ruzena Junior as a “deeply manipulative individual” and “fundamentally dishonest individual”.

He jailed Sindelarova for two years and jailed Cmejlova for three years and four months for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

For one count of perverting the course of justice he jailed Ruzena Senior for three years, and four years for the conspiracy charge to run concurrently.

He handed Ruzena Junior, whom he described as the primary culprit, to three years for the perverting the course of justice charge and five years for the conspiracy charge. While the sentences were to be concurrent to each other, he said the sentence had to be served consecutively with the one she was already serving, beginning only when her six and a half year sentence ended.

After the three were taken from the dock, Mr Mathers-Lee highlighted the work of the police investigators involved; Det Sgt Matt Lawrence, Det Con Amber Butterworth and Det Con Mark Watson, who had performed their task in the “most exemplary fashion” overcoming a host of difficult hurdles.

He also praised CPS prosecutor Ann Hampshire who helped compile the case, describing her as “possibly the best lawyer I’ve ever come across in dealing with such a complex case”.

Judge Lawrie concurred saying he was “singularly impressed” that the police officers were not deterred by the suspect’s efforts to avoid justice. He said the case file he was presented with was “immaculate” for which he was grateful as it made his job much easier and praised the “firm grip” which the CPS had held the case.

Following the hearing Det Insp Nick West of the Serious and Organised Crime Investigation Team said he was “absolutely delighted” with the result and highlighted how this case showed how victims came first.

He said: “This was a concerted effort by this four to derail the trial and interfere with the English justice system, as well as re-targeting a victim who had been brave enough to come forward and give evidence. We were never going to accept that.

“The investigation team worked tirelessly to put the first five defendants on trial in 2015 and would not allow this prosecution to fail. They travelled twice to the Czech Republic, determined to learn the truth about what had happened to Mr Bukovinsky and to ensure that he was safe.

“I would like to praise the investigation team which was tenacious in its efforts to make sure these traffickers did not get away with their crimes. The investigation and subsequent prosecutions have disrupted a well-organised and callous family gang who promised vulnerable victims a better life but instead subjected them to appalling, oppressive and subhuman conditions.

“This latest chapter in this long-running and complex case sends a strong message from the police and the CPS that modern slavery will not be tolerated in Devon and Cornwall and whatever tricks are played, we will make sure offenders face justice.”

Ann Hampshire, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS South West, said: “The actions of Tancosova, Cmejlova, Sindelarova and Tancosova saw one witness pressured into not attending to give evidence and a second witness pressured into claiming his evidence was false, leading to the collapse of a trial and allowing criminals to evade justice for a year-and-a-half.

“This had a significant impact on the victims and witnesses. The failed and subsequent trial wasted almost £1 million, being counsel fees, defence costs and additional police costs. This was an unusual case but the evidence presented by the CPS and gathered by the police both in the UK, the Czech Republic and the USA established a very strong case which resulted in the four defendants pleading guilty to the offences.

“This investigation and subsequent convictions was only possible due to the international cooperation of law enforcement agencies in Europe and elsewhere, both in the gathering of evidence, securing the attendance of witnesses and in the subsequent arrests and extradition from the Czech Republic of these four defendants.”

People can seek help or report modern slavery contact police on 101 or the modern slavery helpline on 0800 0121 700.